


Tell me something happy

by Mierke



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Abusive Parents, F/F, Pre-Canon, Skype Call, set during corona times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23377957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mierke/pseuds/Mierke
Summary: What if the corona virus had been around when Emma got kicked out? Set pre-canon.
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Kudos: 25
Collections: 1 Million Words' Weekend Challenge





	Tell me something happy

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 'Happy Facts' weekend challenge. Prompt: _Baby elephants suck on their trunks like human babies suck on their thumbs._

"What happened?"

Emma heaved a sigh of relief as Alyssa's face appeared on Skype. Sending her girlfriend a text asking if she could talk had been all Emma could handle right now, and she didn't know what she'd have done if Alyssa hadn't replied.

"I got kicked out."

Alyssa's face scrunched up in confusion, and despite her sadness, Emma smiled a little in adoration. "Aren't you still in your room?"

"Yeah." Emma played with the ears of the elephant plushie Alyssa had given her a few months earlier. "They told me to go live with grandma. I told them I would not endanger her like that. She’s definitely in the danger zone, you know?"

She swallowed back her fear. "She’s okay so far, but I just didn’t want to risk exposing her to something I might have picked up. I think somehow that impressed mom and dad, cause they let me stay."

Alyssa smiled. "That's good, right?"

Emma shook her head. "Not really. I mean, yeah, I’m grateful I've still got a roof over my head and all, but they don't talk to me. At all. They go about their lives as if I don't exist, as if there are only two people living in the house, and I…"

She fought back more tears. Alyssa leaned closer to the camera, as if she wanted to reach out to Emma.

"It's okay to cry," she said softly. "You don’t have to be strong for me."

"I feel like a ghost," Emma whispered. "They set the table for two. When I'm somewhere they need to be, they reach around me. It’s like I'm not even there and oh my God, Alyssa, how am I going to survive this for however long this whole ordeal will take?"

She let herself fall back on the bed, tears now streaming down her face, and she raised a hand to wave at the camera to reassure Alyssa. "Still here."

They fell quiet for a bit, the kind of comforting silence that reminded Emma she was not alone, no matter how much it felt like it.

"What can I do?" Alyssa asked.

"I don't know." Emma bit her lip, trying to figure out what she needed. "Tell me something happy?"

"Okay. Did you know…" Alyssa started, and Emma could see the smile on her face even with her eyes closed. "That baby animals suck on their trunk to comfort themselves?"

"No way!" Emma shot up, back into view. "You're kidding!"

"I'm really not. Look."

A link to a YouTube-video popped up, and Emma opened it, breaking into a smile as she watched the calf suck on her trunk. 

"That's the cutest thing I've ever seen."

"Isn't it just?" 

Emma switched back to Alyssa, who was looking at her with such tenderness in her eyes that Emma could feel it through the icy cold that had enveloped her since her talk with her parents. She felt warm for the first time in what felt like days.

"Thank you." She smiled. 

"Anytime."


End file.
